MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama softball team dropped a 3-2 decision to Florida Atlantic on Sunday in the series finale of the Sun Belt Conference series at Jaguar Field.

South Alabama (22-14, 4-5 SBC) will now host Alcorn State on Tuesday in a double header.  Game one is scheduled for 3 p.m., while game two is slated to begin at 5 p.m.  Florida Atlantic improves to 23-14 on the season and 5-4 in Sun Belt play with the win.

Unlike the previous two games of the series, the Jags were able to break through in the scoring column first.  In the second inning, Tara Donaldson and Kristen Hayes notched back-to-back singles and Jenny Stevens worked a walk to load the bases to start the inning.  South Alabama shortstop Carolina Mendoza then laced a single through the left side of the infield to plate Donaldson and give the Jags the 1-0 lead.  USA, however, could not capitalize on the big inning opportunity and FAU starter Jen Musillo worked out of the jam by getting the next three Jag hitters to record outs to end the inning and the Jaguar threat.

“I thought that we made the same mistakes today that we made yesterday,” said South Alabama head softball coach Beck Clark.  “In the second inning, we had the bases loaded with no outs and were only able to get one run out of it.  We just didn’t capitalize when we had opportunities.”

The Owls didn’t wait long to respond, as FAU took the lead in the top of the next inning.  Florida Atlantic second baseman Mandie Fishback put the Owls up 2-1 when she uncorked her fourth home run of the year, this one a two-run shot over the left centerfield fence.

Kait Chernomaz tied the contest back up at 2-2 when the Jag outfielder drilled her first home run of the season in the fifth inning.

USA’s momentum didn’t last long as Florida Atlantic answered right back in the sixth.  Fishback led the inning off with a single to left and then came around to score from second three batters later when Amy Bukovich sent a bouncer back up the middle.

Over the final two innings, Musillo shut the Jag offense down, including striking out the final four South Alabama hitter.  The Owl hurler finished with 10 for the game.

Musillo (10-7) picked up her second win of the weekend with her complete game performance.  Jag starting pitcher Linden Jones also went the distance and took the loss to fall to 14-8 on the season.